Spring Thoughts
by misguidedghost77
Summary: It is the small things in life Alphonse Elric cherishes. A little flower, a smile, the touch of a linen sheet, a punch from his brother, sweet dreams. Post Brotherhood one-shot. Ed/Win and some Al/Mei


**_A/N: I wrote this on the bus yesterday, inspired by Spring Day in the Southern Hemisphere. Some fluffy Al moments, that's all._**

* * *

Alphonse Elric opened his eyes, completely dazed.

As his eyes followed a few particles of dust that floated in a beam of sunlight that came through the window, he heard the birds chirping outside, and if he remembered anything of what he had dreamt, he forgot it instantly, transfixed by the colors and texture of it all.

In spite of the fact that it had been several months since they –no, Ed- had defeated Father, Al was still getting used to seeing with his eyes, hearing with his ears and touching with his fingers. Not to mention the weird idea of being able to actually fall asleep and wake up the next day.

He made to get up, but was momentarily distracted by the way the soft linen sheets caressed his skin as he moved. He froze for a second and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling. Al didn't remember feeling this _alive_ before he had lost his body, but he guessed it was probably due to all those years stuck with no feeling that he was hypersensitive now. The doctors had told him it would take some time to get used to his body, but he had figured that those feelings, those overwhelming sensations and their intensity would fade after a while. But still, something as silly as the feel of the linen running through his fingertips sent shivers down his spine.

For a split second his fingers traveled to his lips, as he wondered, if something as simple as the touch of a linen sheet felt so great, what would a kiss feel like?

A thought crossed his mind, quick as flash, of how lucky Ed was for having Winry. But no, no, no, he couldn't think like that. Ed had sacrificed the essence of who he was, he had sacrificed his alchemy for Al, and the young man owed his elder brother everything he was.

He chuckled in disapproval of himself and shook his head, as he sat on the side of the bed. He closed his eyes for a moment as he planted his feet on the wooden floor, and then he slowly stood up, just like the doctors had told him to do. His muscles weren't atrophied anymore and didn't complain, but Al had found out it was a very good way of stretching his body out of the numbness of a good night of sleep.

He walked to the window and opened it, a sigh of pleasure escaping his lips when the fresh morning breeze hit his face and filled his nostrils with the smell of flowers, trees, grass, earth, life.

Alphonse looked at the blue sky and inhaled deeply. Living felt good.

* * *

About three hours later, he was returning from the cemetery. It was March 21st and he wanted to take some flowers to his parents. He sighed, trying to shake the melancholy off his shoulders.

Suddenly, a bright color at his right called his eye. Between the big rocks that formed the wall at the side of the road, a big, red, lively flower had sprung. Al walked closer and gently touched the petals of the small flower, reveling in the velvety texture. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Life finds the way." Not even with his best alchemical knowledge could he create something this beautiful; not even Ed could have done it.

But the thought of his brother elicited a sudden idea that made his smile grow devilish.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled to the flower as he quickly tore it from the wall, before making a run for home.

* * *

"Here, happy Spring Day!"

Winry's face illuminated with a large smile, her azure eyes glimmering, the faintest sign of a blush appearing on her cheeks.

"This… this is for me?"

"Yeah."

Winry took the flower to her nose and inhaled deeply.

"Thanks, Al, it's beautiful."

Alphonse gently took the fragile flower between his fingers, and, soft as silk, he tugged it over Winry's ear, making her blush a little more.

"There. Perfect."

There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other, and then Al grinned.

"You're gonna _have_ to make me some apple pie now."

Winry laughed, the ringing noise echoing all over the sunny house. "Of course. You've earned it this time. In fact, I'm gonna go start it right now!"

As she disappeared in the kitchen, Al's eyes followed her, the smallest sigh leaving his lips, and then he turned around to find his elder brother hitting a temple.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Al grinned maliciously. "Think you can top my present?"

Edward gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Why, of course. I'm the Fullme-," Ed corrected himself on the spot. "I'm Edward Elric, I can get her something better than a stupid flower!"

Al raised an eyebrow. "Really? It's Winry we're talking about, I don't think there're many material things you can buy that can please her more than the simplicity of a wild flower."

Ed stared at him for a moment, and then another temple popped when he realized Al was right. Alphonse stuck his hands in his pockets and walked past the sulking Edward with a smug grin. "Good luck with that, Brother."

* * *

Edward disappeared for the rest of the day. By tea time, even Winry was getting worried.

"Where's Ed? Have you seen him? He didn't even show up to lunch, and Granny had prepared stew, his favorite meal…," the blonde girl was saying, as she nervously twisted a piece of cloth between her hands.

Al chuckled, amused. "Oh, I wouldn't worry for him. He's probably still sulking somewhere over the fact that I gave you a flower."

Winry frowned. "But that's ridiculous! I mean, it was just a flower… Not that it wasn't pretty, Al, but it's not that big a deal!"

Al laughed. "I know. But you know how he is, he magnifies everything."

Winry brandished a rolling pin in a way that made Al swallow hard, her voice dropping to a menacing tone as she returned to the kitchen. "Well, if you see him tell him he'd better show up for dinner or my wrench will meet his head."

Al giggled for a second as he sweat dropped, but after Winry disappeared in the kitchen again his smile faded. Ed was in for serious trouble. Winry with a wrench was scarier than all the Gates in the world. He stood up and walked outside, hoping to find his brother.

After forty five minutes of fruitless search, though, Al gave up, sighing. He was gonna have to help Edward put himself back together after Winry had finished with him.

But suddenly he heard a weird sound, and stopped at his tracks. It sounded like the clangs he made when he was trapped in the suit of armor, but it was coming from… down below? He retraced his steps around the corner of the house and spotted the locked trap door to the basement. Listening carefully, he determined this was the source of the metallic sounds. It wasn't unusual to hear Winry or Pinako assembling or fixing some automail down there, but the strange thing was, Al had just seen them in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Then, if it wasn't Winry, and it wasn't Pinako, who else could it be? Den? Could the dog have got trapped down there?

Frowning, Alphonse walked inside and directed his steps towards the stairs to the basement. To his surprise, when he opened the door, he noticed the lights were on. Who the hell was down there? He went down some steps and he almost went into cardiac arrest with what he saw.

Edward's bare torso was leaned over a table, his golden hair tied in a ponytail and constrained by a dark bandanna, his bangs hiding his face from Al. He was wearing a grime-stained sash, and Al could see diverse tools protruding from the pockets, and a wrench between his brother's teeth. The whole picture was unsettling, like Winry had suddenly gender-swapped. The only differences were Ed's trademark golden eyes, legacy they both had inherited from the long ago deceased citizens of Xerxes; and the distinct chips of metal from his automail that were still stuck in the flesh of his right shoulder. From his position, Al could only see the latter.

Ed didn't seem to notice Al's presence, and he mumbled incoherent things under his breath as his hands worked over the table, clearly the source of the weird clanging sounds Al had heard earlier.

"It can't be that damn hard if she did it at eleven!" Ed suddenly exploded, angrily wiping the sweat from his forehead. His sudden outburst snapped Al out of his astonishment, and he descended a few more steps in complete silence.

"What are you doing?"

Edward started visibly, and as he turned around to face his younger brother his cheeks turned the color of the flower Al had given Winry. He spread his arms, trying to hide whatever he was doing from Al's view. "N-Nothing. What are _you_ doing down here?"

Ed's sudden embarrassment was so hilarious Al decided to humor him some more.

"I heard some weird sounds and decided to check them out. What are you trying to do, automail?"

Ed let out an exasperated huff. "Of course not, you idiot. Winry would kill me if I messed up her things!"

"Well, you are using her tools after all," Al pointed to the sash tied around Ed's hips.

As expected, the former alchemist turned a deeper shade of red.

"W-Well, it's just… I… I haven't broken anything anyway!," he shouted defensively, and Al was tempted to burst out laughing at his brother's mortification.

"What is it you're doing, anyway? Are you trying to top my present?"

Ed's silence was answer enough, as the young man looked down, almost as if he wanted the Earth to suddenly open up and swallow him. Al was convinced that if Ed could still do alchemy, he'd be shoving Al out of the room with stone or something right now. But then, if Ed could still do alchemy, many things would be different. With an encouraging smile, Al walked towards the table and peered around his brother's shoulder.

Among several scraps of metal that littered the table, an object called Al's attention. At first sight it looked like a big huge scrunch of metal, but if you looked more closely you could spot a stem here, something that Al guessed were supposed to be leaves there, and at the top, several plain pieces of metal that were screwed at the center gave away Ed's idea. With a careful eye and a lot of imagination you could see a rather strange flower.

Al picked it up and tilted his head, studying the thing, and his experienced eye recognized certain elements that denoted Ed's rather eclectic sense of style.

"It's… it's not that bad, Brother."

"It sucks! I can't believe a few scraps of metal can beat me," Ed moaned, and Al turned around to see his elder brother sulking in a corner, a depressive aura around him.

"Want me to give you a hand?"

At that Ed sprung up and snatched the deform thing out of Al's hands. "No! I'll do it… although I'm not sure how…"

Alphonse burst out laughing, for Ed's further shame. "Here, let me help you." He clapped his hands and then placed them over Ed's attempt of a metallic flower. With blue cracks of light, scraps of metal that were supposed to be petals stretched out, the edges smoothing out and curving, as the leaves shrunk and the stem adopted a more delicate form. Still, Al did not correct Ed's personal touches, and after a few seconds the thing resembled a weird flower, undoubtedly the picture Ed had in mind, since the next thing Al saw was Ed's hand directed to his face. Alphonse dodged the blow and grinned, knowing that, in Ed's body language, that was an affectionate hug.

"Wow, thanks, Al!" Ed grinned back at him.

Al waved his hand dismissively. "T'was nothing. Now go get a shower before you present this to Winry, or she'll smack a wrench in your head for smelling."

Ed disappeared upstairs in less than a second, and Al allowed himself a large satisfied smile. He knew Ed wouldn't resist the challenge, and it was too long since the last time he had given Winry anything. The flower had suggested the idea, and Al was proud his little scheme had worked out alright.

* * *

A few hours later, Alphonse Elric snuck back to bed, the largest smile on his face.

Winry had made peace with Ed, declaring the metallic flower "the best she could expect from an alchemy freak", and placing it right beneath the family pictures' cork panel. And after dinner she had dragged Ed outside "for a walk". Al chuckled. A walk, right. He didn't need to lean out the window to know the teens were sharing some "bonding time".

Al inhaled deeply, the smell of the night flowers outside the house still filling his nose, and exhaled, as a powerful feeling inflamed his heart. Life felt right now, like they were finally on the right track, and Alphonse felt in peace, complete. Al's life right now was only one thing away from absolute bliss.

A certain Xingese princess.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he rolled in bed, already imagining May's joy when he went to visit her next year, and confident that he wouldn't have nightmares anymore, or long lonely nights awake. No, tonight he would dream of life, of family, of May, of the prospect of completion.

Most definitely, an hour later he was walking down the huge halls of a palace in Xing, May's hand in his, warm fingers intertwined, her presence the last piece in the puzzle of his life. And her smile as he tugged a small red flower on her ear made him grin in his sleep.


End file.
